They're Talking About Us: The Historical Society in the News

/ / *> They're TalkingAbout Us ? S — Z G. THE HISTORICAL SOCIETY IN THE NEWS lhe .he January/February 1999 issue ofSociety featured an article by Jerry Z. Müller ofthe Catholic University ofAmerica entitled "Discontent in the Historical Profession." Müller traces in his article the emergence of The Historical Society, calling it "an alternativeforum," a response to "the seeming rejection ofthe norms ofscholarly objectivity, universality, and pluralism" in the profession at ¡arge. Müller is especially critical ofthe lack ofscholarly interchange of those with different views, where "historians end up preaching to the choir, while taking turns at the pulpit" and thefragmentation of the discipline. The fall I 999 issue of Diplomatic History featured an article by Robert Buzzanco entitled "What Happened to the New Left?" In the article. Buzzanco mentions the "emergence of this new group," The Historical Society. Our fair president, Eugene Genovese, was asked Io comment for The ChronicL· of Higher Education on the Clinton/Jefferson Lecture flap at the National Endowment for the Humanities last September. Genovese was also asked to comment on tlx- eventual choice of James M. MoPhcrson as the NEI I speaker for 2000 in a [anuary Chronicle article, calling McPherson "a man whose scholarship is ol very high order," whose "interpretations arc well grounded in primary research and a broad knowledge in American history." Richard Schneirov of Indiana State University reported on lhe May 1999 Convention for the SHGAPE Newsletter— Society for Historians of the Gilded Age and l'logivssivi- Era, in the tall of [999. Excerpts from the article. " I he Historical Societys First ( orrvention," are reprinted in tins issue ol Historically Speaking. The October I. 1999. edition of The Chronicle of Higher Education featured a passage from Donald Kagan's article in Reconstructing History: Ihe Emergence of a New Historical Society. The highlighted excerpt was entitled "Today's College Students Must Bc Helped to Understand That We May Hm- Something to Learn Itoiti the Fast." Also m October, The ChronicL· of llichcr Education spotlighted the rewards and challenges oi diplomatic history. In the "Letters to the Editor" that followed on October 29. 1999. one respondent mentioned The Historical Society, describing it as including "many leading practitioners of diplomatic history as it is now understood." Stephen Goodc's review of Reconstructing History: The hmergrnee of a New Historical Society appeared in the Washington Times on October 10. 1999. Goode praised its "intellectual firepower," commenting that "rarely have so many distinguished historians been collected between the covers ol one relatively small book." I he fall 1999 issue ol Academic Questions featured an article, "Straight History.'' by Michael Burlingame of Connecticut ('ollcge. Flic article gave a report on the Mav 1999 National Convention, quoting extensively lrom THS President Eugene Genovese s address arid describing a "sense of excitement that prevailed throughout the weekend." Burlinganx- also paraphrased the sentiments of John Womack, professor of history at Harvard, who "lamented that over the past twenty-five wars many historians liavv ónix- to feel that what they do docs not matter, that history has simply become a form of entertainment, that historians conduct research and write up the results simply to kill time." Burlingame continued , saving Womack hoped that The Historical Society could "help restore morale, to encourage historians to believe that what they do dix-s matter, that it can count in the world." ··*·¦ 21 ...